The present invention relates generally to a screen door insert that is to be used in lieu of, or in combination with, a standard screen door.
Modern apartment buildings typically include a central air conditioning system. The owner of these apartment buildings would like their tenants to keep their outer doors and windows closed when the air conditioning system is in operation. This would lower the cost of operating the air conditioning systems by minimizing the loss of cooled air going out open windows or opens doors. To achieve this goal, the managers often utilize windows that cannot be opened by the tenant. Obviously a permanently locked outer door that cannot be opened by the tenant cannot be used to keep the door shut. What apartment owners often do instead is not provide the door with a screen door. This encourages the tenant to keep the door shut since insects can fly in freely if the door is left open. The lack of a screen door affords no security to the tenant. It also saves the apartment managers the expense of having to purchase a screen door for the apartment.
This lack of a screen door is of little harm to the tenant on a very hot day or a very cold day. However, it is a problem on cool days or evenings when the tenant may like to have his door open to get a breeze into his apartment. The tenant has no practical way of correcting this problem since screen doors are quite expensive. A typical screen door is mounted on a frame that would have to be affixed to the outside portion of the outer door frame. This screen door frame would be a fixture to the apartment and its installation might be contested by the apartment owner.
Even in an apartment or a home that does has a screen door there are problems. Screen doors break easily and are quite expensive to replace. Screen doors also provide little security for the parents of a young child since the child can quickly unlatch the door and get outside. Screen doors can also be dangerous. A person could be leaning on the door, have it swing outwardly, and conceivably fall down a set of stairs.
The present invention seeks to solve the above-noted problems by disclosing a screen door insert that is portable, can be quickly inserted into a standard outer door frame and has no portions permanently affixed to the outer door frame. The screen door insert of the present invention cannot be easily opened by a child and will not swing outwardly if leaned upon. The screen door insert of the present invention can also be folded in half in order to make it smaller for more compact storage. This is especially important to a modern apartment dweller. One embodiment of the screen door insert can be mounted in its folded condition to prevent infants or pets from getting into, or out of, a certain room.
These features and others that will become obvious upon reading of the disclosure are achieved with a sturdy construction that is simple to build and is relatively inexpensive.